Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 14:12
The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,
12 23. The presence of righteous men among a sinful people will not save the sinners
The passage may be in answer to thoughts which the prophet felt might rise in the minds of those to whom he spoke. He threatened destruction to people and prophets alike, a destruction indiscriminate and universal. Were not these threats exaggeration? Were they in harmony with God’s former ways of dealing with his people? Would he slay the righteous with the wicked? would he not rather spare the wicked on the intercession of the righteous and for their sake, as often in former times? (Gen 18:23; Num 14:15). To this the prophet replies after Jeremiah 15 that righteous men among the people shall not avert God’s judgment, they shall only save their own souls.
(1) Eze 14:12-20. A supposition is put that God brings any one of his four great judgments, famine, evil beasts, sword or pestilence, upon a land to destroy it. Though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in that land, they should by their righteousness save neither sons nor daughters, only their own souls.
(2) Eze 14:21-23. Application to Jerusalem. Much less shall the righteous save the wicked when the Lord shall bring all his four sore judgments together upon Jerusalem. And if a remnant be spared and carried into all lands, this apparent exception will only confirm and impress the principle by shewing to all how inevitable the utter destruction of Jerusalem was on account of its wickedness, and that God in his righteousness could deal in no other way with it. And thus the exiles when they see the way and doings of those that escape from Jerusalem will be comforted for its fall, and their minds will be lifted up into a higher sympathy with God in his acts of righteousness.
On the prophet’s own sympathy, cf. ch. Eze 3:14.
Eze 14:12-14. Famine.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jer. 14; 15 is a remarkable parallel to this prophecy. Here, as elsewhere, Ezekiel is commissioned to deliver to the exiles the same message which Jeremiah conveys to the inhabitants of Judaea. The answer discovers the nature of the questions which had been expressed or implied.
(1) Can God cast out a people who are holy unto Himself?
(2) Is it just to punish them with utter desolation?
The prophet answers:
(1) That when a people is so corrupt as to call down national judgment, individual piety shall save none but the individuals themselves.
(2) The corrupt condition of the people shall be made so manifest, that none will question the justice of God in dealing thus severely with them.
Eze 14:12
Or, When a land – the case is first put in a general form, and then ism brought with increased force home to Jerusalem – sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, and I stretch out mine hand upon it, and break the staff of bread thereof, and send famine upon it and cut off man and beast: though these three men etc.
Eze 14:14
Noah, Daniel, and Job – Three striking instances of men who, for their integrity, were delivered from the ruin which fell upon others. Some have thought it strange that Daniel, a contemporary, and still young, should have been classed with the two ancient worthies. But the account of him Dan. 2 shows, that by this time Daniel was a very remarkable man (compare Eze 28:3), and the introduction of the name of a contemporary gives force and life to the illustration. There is in the order in which the names occur a kind of climax. Noah did not rescue the guilty world, but did carry forth with him his wife, sons, and sons wives. Daniel raised only a few, but he did raise three of his countrymen with him to honor. To Job was spared neither son nor daughter.
Eze 14:22, Eze 14:23
Ye shall be comforted … – By a truer estimate of the dispensations of the Almighty. This visitation will be recognized as inevitable and just.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 14:12-14
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls.
The limit of influence
The solemnity of this assurance is increased by the fact that it forms quite an exception to the general tenor of the Divine government. Again and again God has saved the earth because of the righteous men who were in it: He would have spared the cities of the plain if Abraham could have found ten praying souls in the whole of their corrupt population; He blessed the house of Potiphar for Josephs sake; He allowed the intercession of Moses to shield Israel from judgment well deserved; for Pauls sake He, saved the ship in the storm. In the text we come upon a sharp variation of the general method: no longer is Noah or Daniel or Job to count for more than one; the day of prevailing intercession is to close; character is to be individualised, and the diffusion of collateral benefit is to pass away forever. Terrible as it may seem on first reading, yet there is quite a deep well of comfort in all this wilderness of desolation. It will be observed that though the darkness brought down upon the earth by sin is very great, yet through all the gloom the figures of Noah, Daniel, and Job are seen in all their vividness and pathetic suggestiveness, showing that the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and that their memory is precious to Him. It is clear, however, that the text is meant to be a warning rather than a comfort, and it is in this spirit that we must approach its interpretation. It is a warning to individual men. They cannot tell how soon they will be called upon to cease their intercessory ministry. Specially, however, is this a warning to households. How terrible is this tragedy, that a man should no longer be the priest of his own family! The son shall be separated from the father, and the daughter from the mother, and shall realise in an awful individualism of position how true it is that every soul must give an account of itself to God. The Lord will not spare the children when they have gone astray, having broken every holy vow and shattered every commandment issued from heaven. I will also send wild beasts among you, etc. This is a threatening which may operate in either of two ways; either because the children have forfeited Divine confidence, or because the parents have abandoned the right way, and can only be brought home again by processes of affliction and desolation. This is a warning also to nations. The nation is saved because of the living Church that is within it. Prophets must not cease to pray for the land in which they live. Amid political tumult and uproar the voice of their prayer may seem to be but a feeble sound, yet they are called upon by the very genius of their faith to keep the way clear between heaven and earth for large and profitable intercourse. Into the mystery of intercession we cannot enter, but we find that it is at the very heart of things, a rule and a law, a judgment and a blessing, an opportunity large in its possibilities, but always hastening to a solemn conclusion. The great principle of mediation is, of course, most vividly and gloriously represented by the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ; but even in His case the priesthood is to cease, the long and loving prayer for others is to come to a perpetual close: Then cometh the end, etc. We live in a great intercessory period; the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered; we need not fear because our prayer halts and stumbles as to the mere eloquence of its expression; the eloquence of prayer is in its sincerity; to the man who is of a broken and a contrite heart will God look, and on him will He set signs of approval. A wondrous gift is it to have the gift of intercession, the power of putting into heavenly words the wants of other men, and the power of pleading with God on behalf of those who never plead for themselves. Some suppliants can but pray for themselves; others can only pray concerning great events and great subjects; others, more Christ-like, seem to carry the world in their hearts, and to plead for continents and empires in great intercessions. Let us get a clear view of the system of spiritual government under which we live. We are to conclude all our prayers, and indeed begin them and continue them, with the sentiment, For Christs sake. We cannot understand the mystery of this ground, and yet we feel how solid it is, and how impossible it would be for us to pray without it. It is in Christ that we find God. It is through Christ that we find access to the throne of the heavenly grace. We do not plead Christ as if we were pleading with an arbitrary deity, who would not do anything for us ourselves, but would only do it through the mediation of His Son, or because of His partiality for one whom He calls His Only-Begotten. Though our prayers are to be heard for Christs sake, yet Christ Himself was given for our sake! Herein is love, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us! God sent His Son to seek and to save that which was lost. (J. Parker, D. D.)
A delusion dispelled
I. The righteousness of the most godly cannot avail for the ungodly.
1. We prove this, first, by referring you to our text, and asking you to read it for yourselves. Mark ye how the anger of the Lord kindles, and how the words are launched forth like hot thunderbolts from the lips of the Most High.
2. Next, I ask you to inspect more narrowly the portraits of these men of God, who are presumed to have stood counsel for the defendants, and to have occasioned so much astonishment, because with all their special pleadings they signally lost their case. The Lord declares that if the whole three were put together they should not save son or daughter.
3. This truth may be further substantiated by observing the course of Providence as regards the things of this life. Could the merits of friends and parents secure the salvation of their relatives or children, we must expect to see the son or the daughter of a righteous man screened from the full punishment of his own misdeeds; but we have evidence that such is not the case.
4. Painful though it be, I must carry the assertion a stage further. The righteousness of good men has not availed to save their relatives from the terrors of the world to come. Cain, where are you tonight? Are you sitting here; and do you dream that your brother Abel now with God can by any means bless you? That must not be. Dispel the delusion.
II. The prayers of the greatest intercessors cannot avail if men persist in their unbelief.
1. Remember that all the prayers of godly men cannot alter the nature of sin, and if they cannot alter the nature of sin, then they that continue in it must perish.
2. Moreover, the prayers of good men cannot alter the conditions of the eternal future, so long as the present abides the same. There is no law more immutable than that to be good is to be happy, and to be bad is sooner or later to be wretched. It must be so. Trust not, therefore, to the prayers of others, but come to Christ for yourselves, that you may be cleansed from sin and made meet for heaven.
3. Perhaps you say, Sir, I did not think prayer would suffice to effect a change in my circumstances without a corresponding change in myself; but I thought that somehow by prayer I should be compelled to believe and to repent. Compelled to believe and to repent? Well, man, what sort of repentance and faith must that be which comes of compulsion? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Good men: their power and their weakness
I. God recognises the existence of good men. Many ages had passed away since two of the men mentioned here, Noah and Job, had left the world. Yet they were not forgotten by God. Their histories were fresh to Him. Good men are ever before the mind of God. They are had in everlasting remembrance.
2. God appreciates the services of good men. The language implies that Noah, Daniel, and Job could do much for the world. God hath been pleased to endow men with power for great achievements, and when this power is rightly used He grants the smile of His approval.
III. God limits the influence of good men. These men could do much, had done much; but there was much they could not do. When righteous retribution overtakes us, the services of the best men that ever lived will be of no avail.
IV. God secures the salvation of good men. Their righteousness ensures their salvation. A righteous man–a man right in his relation towards God, standing fully acquitted before his Maker, and right in the principles and purposes of his own soul, is safe everywhere–safe amidst the most terrible judgments of heaven. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Noah, Daniel, and Job
If we look at the history of the three holy men mentioned in the text we shall find that they did save their souls or their lives by their righteousness. And it is manifestly in accordance with our own deepest sense of right and justice that this should be so; the notion that good deeds will bring a reward, and that evil deeds will bring punishment, is too deep to be rooted out. You perceive how thoroughly it was assumed as a principle by Abraham (Gen 18:25), as it must be by anyone who has a sense of the goodness of God, and who believes that the feelings of right and justice which he finds in his own soul are but the reflexion of Gods image there,–assumed as a principle, I say, that God would make a difference between the evil and the good, and would allow a righteous man to live by his righteousness. Precisely the same kind of doctrine may be found in the New Testament. For let us turn to that solemn description which our blessed Lord has Himself left to us of the final judgment; I mean the description which is contained in St. Mat 25:1-46. Who shall say, with this description of the judgment before him, that the last judgment will not be a judgment according to works, that righteousness will not save souls alive? The description is only a sketch, it is not intended to be complete; but this feature is there, you cannot get rid of it, it is that which gives to the whole judgment its tone and its complexion. And why should we desire to get rid of it, when the principle upon which it is based is so thoroughly in accordance with all our sense of right, and in accordance too with those other words of Christ in which He declares that those who have done good shall rise to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation? And why also, with such words of our Lord before us, should we hesitate to give to the words of St. James their full and undiminished force when He says, Ye see, then, how by works a man is justified and not by faith only? (Bishop Harvey Goodwin.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
12. The second part of thechapter: the effect which the presence of a few righteous persons wasto have on the purposes of God (compare Ge18:24-32). God had told Jeremiah that the guilt of Judah was toogreat to be pardoned even for the intercession of Moses and Samuel(Psa 99:6; Jer 14:2;Jer 15:1), which had prevailedformerly (Exo 32:11-14;Num 14:13-20; 1Sa 7:8-12),implying the extraordinary heinousness of their guilt, since inordinary cases “the effectual fervent prayer of arighteous man (for others) availeth much” (Jas5:16). Ezekiel supplements Jeremiah by adding that not only thosetwo once successful intercessors, but not even the threepre-eminently righteous men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, could stayGod’s judgments by their righteousness.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The word of the Lord came again unto saying. At the same time as before, continuing the prophecy, and a denunciation of judgments; for it does not seem to begin a new prophecy. The Targum renders it, the word of prophecy from the Lord.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Righteousness of the Godly will not Avert the Judgment
The threat contained in the preceding word of God, that if the idolaters did not repent, God would not answer them in any other way than with an exterminating judgment, left the possibility still open, that He would avert the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem for the sake of the righteous therein, as He had promised the patriarch Abraham that He would do in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18:23.). This hope, which might be cherished by the people and by the elders who had come to the prophet, is now to be taken from the people by the word of God which follows, containing as it does the announcement, that if any land should sin so grievously against God by its apostasy, He would be driven to inflict upon it the punishments threatened by Moses against apostate Israel (Lev 26:22, Lev 26:25-26, and elsewhere), namely, to destroy both man and beast, and make the land a desert; it would be of no advantage to such a land to have certain righteous men, such as Noah, Daniel, and Job, living therein. For although these righteous men would be saved themselves, their righteousness could not possibly secure salvation for the sinners. The manner in which this thought is carried out in Eze 14:13-20 is, that four exterminating punishments are successively supposed to come upon the land and lay it waste; and in the case of every one, the words are repeated, that even righteous men, such as Noah, Daniel, and Job, would only save their own souls, and not one of the sinners. And thus, according to Eze 14:21-23, will the Lord act when He sends His judgments against Jerusalem; and He will execute them in such a manner that the necessity and righteousness of His acts shall be made manifest therein. – This word of God forms a supplementary side-piece to Jer 15:1 -43, where the Lord replies to the intercession of the prophet, that even the intercession of a Moses and a Samuel on behalf of the people would not avert the judgments which were suspended over them.
Eze 14:12-20 Eze 14:12. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 14:13. Son of man, if a land sin against me to act treacherously, and I stretch out my hand against it, and break in pieces for it the support of bread, and send famine into it, and cut off from it man and beast: Eze 14:14. And there should be these three men therein, Noah, Daniel, and Job, they would through their righteousness deliver their soul, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Eze 14:15. If I bring evil beasts into the land, so that they make it childless, and it become a desert, so that no one passeth through it because of the beasts: Eze 14:16. These three men therein, as I live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, would not deliver sons and daughters; they only would be delivered, but the land would become a desert. Eze 14:17. Or I bring the sword into that land, and say, Let the sword go through the land; and I cut off from it man and beast: Eze 14:18. These three men therein, as I live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, would not deliver sons and daughters, but they only would be delivered. Eze 14:19. Or I send pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: Eze 14:20. Verily, Noah, Daniel, and Job, in the midst of it, as I live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would only deliver their own soul through their righteousness. – in Eze 14:13 is intentionally left indefinite, that the thought may be expressed in the most general manner. On the other hand, the sin is very plainly defined as . , literally, to cover, signifies to act in a secret or treacherous manner, especially towards Jehovah, either by apostasy from Him, in other words, by idolatry, or by withholding what is due to Him (see comm. on Lev 5:15). In the passage before us it is the treachery of apostasy from Him by idolatry that is intended. As the epithet used to denote the sin is taken from Lev 26:40 and Deu 32:51, so the four punishments mentioned in the following verses, as well as in Eze 5:17, are also taken from Lev 26, – viz. the breaking up of the staff of bread, from v. 26; the evil beasts, from Eze 14:22; and the sword and pestilence, from v. 25. The three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, are named as examples of true righteousness of life, or (Eze 14:14, Eze 14:20); i.e., according to Calvin’s correct explanation, quicquid pertinet ad regulam sancte et juste vivendi . Noah is so described in Gen 6:9; and Job, in the Book of Job 1:1; Job 12:4, etc.; and Daniel, in like manner, is mentioned in Dan 1:8., Eze 6:11., as faithfully confessing his faith in his life. The fact that Daniel is named before Job does not warrant the conjecture that some other older Daniel is meant, of whom nothing is said in the history, and whose existence is merely postulated. For the enumeration is not intended to be chronological, but is arranged according to the subject-matter; the order being determined by the nature of the deliverance experienced by these men for their righteousness in the midst of great judgments. Consequently, as Hvernick and Kliefoth have shown, we have a climax here: Noah saved his family along with himself; Daniel was able to save his friends (Dan 2:17-18); but Job, with his righteousness, was not even able to save his children. – The second judgment (Eze 14:15) is introduced with , which, as a rule, supposes a case that is not expected to occur, or even regarded as possible; here, however, is used as perfectly synonymous with . has no Mappik, because the tone is drawn back upon the penultima (see comm. on Amo 1:11). In Eze 14:19, the expression “to pour out my wrath in blood” is a pregnant one, for to pour out my wrath in such a manner that it is manifested in the shedding of blood or the destruction of life, for the life is in the blood. In this sense pestilence and blood were also associated in Eze 5:17.
If we look closely at the four cases enumerated, we find the following difference in the statements concerning the deliverance of the righteous: that, in the first instance, it is simply stated that Noah, Daniel, and Job would save their soul, i.e., their life, by their righteousness; whereas, in the three others, it is declared that as truly as the Lord liveth they would not save either sons or daughters, but they alone would be delivered. The difference is not merely a rhetorical climax or progress in the address by means of asseveration and antithesis, but indicates a distinction in the thought. The first case is only intended to teach that in the approaching judgment the righteous would save their lives, i.e., that God would not sweep away the righteous with the ungodly. The three cases which follow are intended, on the other hand, to exemplify the truth that the righteousness of the righteous will be of no avail to the idolaters and apostates; since even such patterns of righteousness as Noah, Daniel, and Job would only save their own lives, and would not be able to save the lives of others also. This tallies with the omission of the asseveration in Eze 14:14. The first declaration, that God would deliver the righteous in the coming judgments, needed no asseveration, inasmuch as this truth was not called in question; but it was required in the case of the declaration that the righteousness of the righteous would bring no deliverance to the sinful nation, since this was the hope which the ungodly cherished, and it was this hope which was to be taken from them. The other differences which we find in the description given of the several cases are merely formal in their nature, and do not in any way affect the sense; e.g., the use of , in Eze 14:18, instead of the particle , which is commonly employed in oaths, and which we find in Eze 14:16 and Eze 14:20; the choice of the singular been and , in Eze 14:20, in the place of the plural , used in Eze 14:16 and Eze 14:18; and the variation in the expressions, (Eze 14:14), (Eze 14:20), and (Eze 14:16 and Eze 14:18), which Hitzig proposes to remove by altering the first two forms into the third, though without the slightest reason. For although the Piel occurs in Exo 12:36 in the sense of taking away or spoiling, and is not met with anywhere else in the sense of delivering, it may just as well be used in this sense, as the Hiphil has both significations.
Eze 14:21-23 The rule expounded in Eze 14:13-20 is here applied to Jerusalem. – Eze 14:21. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, How much more when I send my four evil judgments, sword, and famine, and evil beasts, and pestilence, against Jerusalem, to cut off from it man and beast? Eze 14:22. And, behold, there remain escaped ones in her who will be brought out, sons and daughters; behold, they will go out to you, that ye may see their walk and their works; and console yourselves concerning the evil which I have brought upon Jerusalem. Eze 14:23. And they will console you, when ye see their walk and their works: and ye will see that I have not done without cause all that I have done to her, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. – By in Eze 14:21 the application of the general rule to Jerusalem is made in the form of a reason. The meaning, however, is not, that the reason why Jehovah was obliged to act in this unsparing manner was to be found in the corrupt condition of the nation, as Hvernick supposes, – a thought quite foreign to the context; but indicates that the judgments upon Jerusalem will furnish a practical proof of the general truth expressed in Eze 14:13-20, and so confirm it. This is no more an emphatic yea than the following “ is a forcible introduction to the antithesis formed by the coming fact, to the merely imaginary cases mentioned above” (Hitzig). has undoubtedly the force of a climax, but not of an asseveration, “verily” (Hv.); a meaning which this particle never has. It is used here, as in Job 4:19, in the sense of ; and the which follows swollo f hcihw in this case is a conditional particle of time, “when.” Consequently ought properly to be written twice; but it is only used once, as in Eze 15:5; Job 9:14, etc. The thought is this: how much more will this be the case, namely, that even a Noah, Daniel, and Job will not deliver either sons or daughters when I send my judgments upon Jerusalem. The perfect is used, and not the imperfect, as in Eze 14:13, because God has actually resolved upon sending it, and does not merely mention it as a possible case. The number four is significant, symbolizing the universality of the judgment, or the thought that it will fall on all sides, or upon the whole of Jerusalem; whereby it must also be borne in mind that Jerusalem as the capital represents the kingdom of Judah, or the whole of Israel, so far as it was still in Canaan. At the same time, by the fact that the Lord allows sons and daughters to escape death, and to be led away to Babylon, He forces the acknowledgment of the necessity and righteousness of His judgments among those who are in exile. This is in general terms the thought contained in Eze 14:22 and Eze 14:23, to which very different meanings have been assigned by the latest expositors. Hvernick, for example, imagines that, in addition to the four ordinary judgments laid down in the law, Eze 14:22 announces a new and extraordinary one; whereas Hitzig and Kliefoth have found in these two verses the consolatory assurance, that in the time of the judgments a few of the younger generation will be rescued and taken to those already in exile in Babylon, there to excite pity as well as to express it, and to give a visible proof of the magnitude of the judgment which has fallen upon Israel. They differ so far from each other, however, that Hitzig regards those of the younger generation who are saved as , who have saved themselves through their innocence, but not their guilty parents, and who will excite the commiseration of those already in exile through their blameless conduct; whilst Kliefoth imagines that those who are rescued are simply less criminal than the rest, and when they come to Babylon will be pitied by those who have been longer in exile, and will pity them in return.
Neither of these views does justice to the words themselves or to the context. The meaning of. Eze 14:22 is clear enough; and in the main there has been no difference of opinion concerning it. When man and beast are cut off out of Jerusalem by the four judgments, all will not perish; but , i.e., persons who have escaped destruction, will be left, and will be led out of the city. These are called sons and daughters, with an allusion to Eze 14:16, Eze 14:18, and Eze 14:20; and consequently we must not take these words as referring to the younger generation in contrast to the older. They will be led out of Jerusalem, not to remain in the land, but to come to “you,” i.e., those already in exile, that is to say, to go into exile to Babylon. This does not imply either a modification or a sharpening of the punishment; for the cutting off of man and beast from a town may be effected not only by slaying, but by leading away. The design of God in leaving some to escape, and carrying them to Babylon, is explained in the clauses which follow from onwards, the meaning of which depends partly upon the more precise definition of and , and partly upon the explanation to be given of and . The ways and works are not to be taken without reserve as good and righteous works, as Kliefoth has correctly shown in his reply to Hitzig. Still less can ways and works denote their experience or fate, which is the explanation given by Kliefoth of the words, when expounding the meaning and connection of Eze 14:21-23. The context certainly points to wicked ways and evil works. And it is only the sight of such works that could lead to the conviction that it was not , in vain, i.e., without cause, that God had inflicted such severe judgments upon Jerusalem. And in addition to this effect, which is mentioned in Eze 14:23 as produced upon those who were already in exile, by the sight of the conduct of the that came to Babylon, the immediate design of God is described in Eze 14:22 as ‘ . The verb with cannot be used here in the sense of to repent of, or be sorry for, a judgment which God has inflicted upon him, but only of evil which he himself has done; and does not mean to pity a person, either when construed in the Piel with an accusative of the person, or in the Niphal c. , rei. is Niphal, and signifies here to console oneself, as in Gen 38:12 with , concerning anything, as in 2Sa 13:39; Jer 31:15, etc.; and (Eze 14:23), with the accusative of the person, to comfort any one, as in Gen. 51:21; Job 2:11, etc. But the works and doings of those who came to Babylon could only produce this effect upon those who were already there, from the fact that they were of such a character as to demonstrate the necessity for the judgments which had fallen upon Jerusalem. A conviction of the necessity for the divine judgments would cause them to comfort themselves with regard to the evil inflicted by God; inasmuch as they would see, not only that the punishment endured was a chastisement well deserved, but that God in His righteousness would stay the punishment when it had fulfilled His purpose, and restore the penitent sinner to favour once more. But the consolation which those who were in exile would derive from a sight of the works of the sons and daughters who had escaped from death and come to Babylon, is attributed in Eze 14:23 ( ) to the persons themselves. It is in this sense that it is stated that “they will comfort you;” not by expressions of pity, but by the sight of their conduct. This is directly affirmed in the words, “when ye shall see their conduct and their works.” Consequently Eze 14:23 does not contain a new thought, but simply the thought already expressed in Eze 14:22, which is repeated in a new form to make it the more emphatic. And the expression , in Eze 14:22, serves to increase the force; whilst , in the sense of quoad , serves to place the thought to be repeated in subordination to the whole clause (cf. Ewald, 277 a, p. 683).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Destruction of the People Determined; The Variety of the Divine Judgment; A Remnant Preserved. | B. C. 593. |
12 The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, 13 Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: 14 Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD. 15 If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts: 16 Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. 17 Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it: 18 Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. 19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: 20 Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. 21 For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? 22 Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. 23 And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD.
The scope of these verses is to show,
I. That national sins bring national judgments. When virtue is ruined and laid waste every thing else will soon be ruined and laid waste too (v. 13): When the land sins against me, when vice and wickedness become epidemical, when the land sins by trespassing grievously, when the sinners have become very numerous and their sins very heinous, when gross impieties and immoralities universally prevail, then will I stretch forth my hand upon it, for the punishment of it. The divine power shall be vigorously and openly exerted; the judgments shall be extended and stretched forth to all the corners of the land, to all the concerns and interests of the nation. Grievous sins bring grievous plagues.
II. That God has a variety of sore judgments wherewith to punish sinful nations, and he has them all at command and inflicts which he pleases. He did indeed give David his choice what judgment he would be punished with for his sin in numbering the people; for any of them would serve to answer the end, which was to lessen the numbers he was proud of; but David, in effect, referred it to God again: “Let us fall into the hands of the Lord; let him choose with what rod we shall be beaten.” But he uses a variety of judgments that it may appear he has a universal dominion, and that in all our concerns we may see our dependence on him. Four sore judgments are here specified:– 1. Famine, v. 13. The denying and withholding of common mercies is itself judgment enough, there needs no more to make a people miserable. God needs not bring the staff of oppression, it is but breaking the staff of bread and the work is soon done; he cuts off man and beast by cutting off the provisions which nature makes for both in the annual products of the earth. God breaks the staff of bread when, though we have bread, yet we are not nourished and strengthened by it. Hag. i. 6, You eat, but you have not enough. 2. Hurtful beasts, noisome and noxious, either as poisonous or as ravenous. God can make these to pass through the land (v. 15), to increase in all parts of it, and to bereave it, not only of the tame cattle, preying upon their flocks and herds, but of their people, devouring men, women, and children, so that no man may pass through because of the beasts; none dare travel even in the high roads for fear of being pulled in pieces by lions, or other beasts of prey, as the children of Beth-el by two bears. Note, When men revolt from their allegiance to God, and rebel against him, it is just with God that the inferior creatures should rise up in arms against men, Lev. xxvi. 22. 3. War. God often chastises sinful nations by bringing a sword upon them, the sword of a foreign enemy, and he gives it its commission and orders what execution it shall do (v. 17): he says, Sword, go through the land. It is bad enough if the sword do but enter into the borders of a land, but much worse when it goes through the bowels of a land. By it God cuts off man and beast, horse and foot. What execution the sword does God does by it; for it is his sword, and it acts as he directs. 4. Pestilence (v. 19), a dreadful disease, which has sometimes depopulated cities; by it God pours out his fury in blood (that is, in death); the pestilence kills as effectually as if the blood were shed by the sword, for it is poisoned by the disease, the sickness we call it. See how miserable the case of mankind is that lies thus exposed to deaths in various shapes. See how dangerous the case of sinners is against whom God has so many ways of fighting, so that, though they escape one judgment, God has another waiting for them.
III. That when God’s professing people revolt from him, and rebel against him, they may justly expect a complication of judgments to fall upon them. God has various ways of contending with a sinful nation; but if Jerusalem, the holy city, become a harlot, God will send upon her all his four sore judgments (v. 21); for the nearer any are to God in name and profession the more severely will he reckon with them if they reproach that worthy name by which they are called and give the lie to that profession. They shall be punished seven times more.
IV. That there may be, and commonly are, some few very good men, even in those places that by sin are ripened for ruin. It is no foreign supposition that, even in a land that has trespassed grievously, there may be three such men as Noah, Daniel, and Job. Daniel was now living, and at this time had scarcely arrived at the prime of his eminency, but he was already famous (at least this word of God concerning him would without fail make him so); yet he was carried away into captivity with the first of all, Dan. i. 6. Some of the better sort of people in Jerusalem might perhaps think that, if Daniel (of whose fame in the king of Babylon’s court they had heard much) had but continued in Jerusalem, it would have been spared for his sake, as the magicians in Babylon were. “No,” says God, “though you had him, who was as eminently good in bad times and places as Noah in the old world and Job in the land of Uz, yet a reprieve should not be obtained.” In the places that are most corrupt, and in the ages that are most degenerate, there is a remnant which God reserves to himself, and which still hold fast their integrity and stand fair for the honour of delivering the land, as the innocent are said to do, Job xxii. 30.
V. That God often spares very wicked places for the sake of a few godly people in them. This is implied here as the expectation of Jerusalem’s friends in the day of its distress: “Surely God will stay his controversy with us; for are there not some among us that are emptying the measure of national guilt by their prayers, as others are filling it by their sins? And, rather than God will destroy the righteous with the wicked, he will preserve the wicked with the righteous. If Sodom might have been spared for the sake of ten good men, surely Jerusalem may.”
VI. That such men as Noah, Daniel, and Job, will prevail, if any can, to turn away the wrath of God from a sinful people. Noah was a perfect man, and kept his integrity when all flesh had corrupted their way; and, for his sake, his family, though one of them was wicked (Ham), was saved in the ark. Job was a great example of piety, and mighty in prayer for his children, for his friends; and God turned his captivity when he prayed. Those were very ancient examples, before Moses, that great intercessor; and therefore God mentions them, to intimate that he had some very peculiar favourites long before the Jewish nation was formed or founded, and would have such when it was ruined, for which reason, it should seem, those names were made use of, rather than Moses, Aaron, or Samuel; and yet, lest any should think that God was partial in his respects to the ancient days, here is a modern instance, a living one, placed between those two that were the glories of antiquity, and he now a captive, and that is Daniel, to teach us not to lessen the useful good men of our own day by over-magnifying the ancients. Let the children of the captivity know that Daniel, their neighbour, and companion in tribulation, being a man of great humility, piety, and zeal for God, and instant and constant in prayer, had as good an interest in heaven as Noah or Job had. Why may not God raise up as great and good men now as he did formerly, and do as much for them?
VII. That when the sin of a people has come to its height, and the decree has gone forth for their ruin, the piety and prayers of the best men shall not prevail to finish the controversy. This is here asserted again and again, that, though these three men were in Jerusalem at this time, yet they should deliver neither son nor daughter; not so much as the little ones should be spared for their sakes, as the little ones of Israel were upon the prayer of Moses, Num. xiv. 31. No; the land shall be desolate, and God would not hear their prayers for it, though Moses and Samuel stood before him, Jer. xv. 1. Note, Abused patience will turn at last into inexorable wrath; and it should seem as if God would be more inexorable in Jerusalem’s case than in another (v. 6), because, besides the divine patience, they had enjoyed greater privileges than any other people, which were the aggravations of their sin.
VIII. That, though pious praying men may not prevail to deliver others, yet they shall deliver their own souls by their righteousness, so that, though they may suffer in the common calamity, yet to them the property of it is altered; it is not to them what it is to the wicked; it is unstrung, and does them no hurt; it is sanctified, and does them good. Sometimes their souls (their lives) are remarkably delivered, and given them for a prey; at least their souls (their spiritual interests) are secured. If their bodies be not delivered, yet their souls are. Riches indeed profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death, from so great a death, so many deaths as are here threatened. This should encourage us to keep our integrity in times of common apostasy, that, if we do so, we shall be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.
IX. That, even when God makes the greatest desolations by his judgments, he reserves some to be the monuments of his mercy, Eze 14:22; Eze 14:23. In Jerusalem itself, though marked for utter ruin, yet there shall be left a remnant, who shall not be cut off by any of those sore judgments before mentioned, but shall be carried into captivity, both sons and daughters, who shall be the seed of a new generation. The young ones, who had not grown up to such an obstinacy in sin as their fathers had who were therefore cut off as incurable, these shall be brought forth out of the ruins of Jerusalem by the victorious enemy, and behold they shall come forth to you that are in captivity, they shall make a virtue of a necessity, and shall come the more willingly to Babylon because so many of their friends have gone thither before them and are there ready to receive them; and, when they come, you shall see their ways and their doing; you shall hear them make a free and ingenuous confession of the sins they had formerly been guilty of, and a humble profession of repentance for them, with promises of reformation; and you shall see instances of their reformation, shall see what good their affliction has done them, and how prudently and patiently they conduct themselves under it. Their narrow escape shall have a good effect upon them; it shall change their temper and conversation, and make them new men. And this will redound, 1. To the satisfaction of their brethren: They shall comfort you when you see their ways. Note, It is a very comfortable sight to see people, when they are under the rod, repenting and humbling themselves, justifying God and accepting the punishment of their iniquity. When we sorrow (as we ought to do) for the afflictions of others, it is a great comfort to us in our sorrow to see them improving their afflictions and making a good use of them. When those captives told their friends how bad they had been, and how righteous God was in bringing these judgments upon them, it made them very easy, and helped to reconcile them to the calamities of Jerusalem, to the justice of God in punishing his own people so, and to the goodness of God, which now appeared to have had kind intentions in all; and thus “You shall be comforted concerning all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and, when you better understand the thing, shall not have such direful apprehensions concerning it as you have had.” Note, It is a debt we owe to our brethren, if we have got good by our afflictions, to comfort them by letting them know it. 2. It will redound to the honour of God: “You shall know that I have not done without cause, not without a just provocation, and yet not without a gracious design, all that I have done in it.” Note, When afflictions have done their work, and have accomplished that for which they were sent, then will appear the wisdom and goodness of God in sending them, and God will be not only justified, but glorified in them.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
THE RIGHTEOUS FEW IN JERUSALEM WILL NOT EXEMPT HER FROM JUDGMENTS
Verses 12-23:
Verse 12 sounds the transitional refrain of certified inspiration that the message to follow was directly from the Lord, as related by Ezekiel, 2Ti 3:1; 2Ti 3:17; 2Pe 1:20-21. Israel’s sin was too great for God to pardon because of Intercession, Psa 99:6; Jer 15:1.
Verse 13 informs Ezekiel, as “Son of man,” that the Lord would stretch out His hand on the land of Israel when her people trespassed grievously against Him, Lev 26:26; Psa 104:15; Isa 3:1. In such He declared that He would break their staff (life support) of bread, sending a famine over the land, bringing hunger and starvation to man and beast, to make them die in, or drive them from, the land. The treachery here referred to is that of idolatry, against which He warned, Deu 27:15; Deu 28:15; Deu 28:18; Deu 28:31.
Verse 14 states that though Noah, Job, and Daniel, three righteous men, were in the land of Israel and in Jerusalem they would be able to deliver only their own righteous souls or lives. He would not spare the land or city for their sake, Gen 6:9; Job 1:1. Noah, in righteousness, saved himself and his family, Gen 7:7; Heb 11:7; Daniel through righteousness was able to save his three friends, Dan 2:17-18; Dan 2:48-49. But Job, with his righteousness, was not able to save his own children from the judgment of their own course of sin, Job 1:13-19; Pro 11:4. See also Jer 7:16; Jer 11:14; Jer 14:11; Jer 15:1; Eze 14:16; Eze 14:18; Eze 14:20.
Verse 15 warns that if the Lord should cause “noisome beasts” to pass through the land to spoil it; and He would, “two legged” beasts or ravenous flesh-hungry, blood thirsty warriors. Such would occur until the land was laid desolate with Divine judgment, inflicted by men of invading heathen nations, v. 17; Eze 5:17; Lev 26:22; 2Ki 17:25. The judgment is cumulative or increasing in force and form, as follows:
Verse 16 reasserts that even if these three righteous men, v. 14, Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, He would not spare the land or city of Jerusalem; So grave, open, and willfully obstinate had become the civil and religious rulers and masses of the Israelites in the land; It was almost in the state or condition of Sodom and Gomorrah when Abraham interceded for them, in vain, except for Lot and two of his daughters, Gen 18:23-32; Gen 19:28-29.
Verse 17 expresses the Lord’s irrevocable intent to punish the people of the land of Israel and desolate Jerusalem. It is asserted that nothing would prevent His sending the sword of warfare through all the land to execute judgment on those who claimed to be His own but pursued paths of idolatry, as also expressed, Eze 25:13; Zep 1:3.
Verse 18 reaffirms that even though those three former righteous men lived in Jerusalem, and the land of Israel, they only could be delivered from the sword, v. 14, 20. They could not deliver from the sword the sons and daughters of others who had become fixed in their adamant, obstinate, rebellious ways against the God of Israel and His laws. For the degenerate covenant people had willfully, knowingly desecrated the city, temple, and land of the Lord, Gal 6:7-8.
Verse 19 adds a fourth form of judgment, that of pestilence to the famine, wild beasts, and sword, that the Lord had threatened to send upon the land and people and city of Israel and Jerusalem, v. 13-18; Eze 38:22; 2Sa 24:25. He affirms that should He send a pestilence to pour out His fury upon them in blood, meaning every kind of death, to cut off man and beasts, there would be no righteous justification for Him to spare any. For they had been inexcusably warned of the judgments that should come upon them for their sins, Exo 20:1-5; Deuteronomy 28 th chapter.
Verse 20 reiterates that even though Daniel, Job, or Noah were among them, they could deliver only their own lives, not that of the rebellious, idolatrous, trespassing, treacherous Israelites, personally, Eze 18:1-17; Eze 18:20; See also Deu 24:16; 2Ki 14:6; 2Ch 25:4; Jer 31:29-30.
Verse 21 confirms the four severe judgments that are justifiably to come upon Jerusalem, her people, and her land. They are restated in perhaps the logical and chronological order in which they were to come: 1) First, the sword; 2) Second, the famine to accompany or follow the war; 3) Third, noisome carnivorous beasts to devour decaying dead bodies; and 4) Fourth, the pestilence, contagious diseases that should ravage those surviving, to cut off, drive out man and beast from the land. That those “who know and do not their Lord or Master’s will,” shall all be beaten with many stripes, is a general axiom, rule, or standard of Divine judgment, Luk 12:47-48; Jer 15:2-3; Amo 4:6-12.
Verse 22 extends assurance to Ezekiel and the captives in Babylon that there shall be a remnant left of Jerusalem and Israel who shall be “brought forth” out of the judgment and destruction, both sons and daughters, who should be brought “unto you”, those already in exile in Babylon, v. 16, 18, 20; Eze 6:8. They are assured that they shall then be comforted or confirmed that the Lord was righteous and just in His ways of judgment for sin and wrong, Eze 20:43. For He is “righteous in all His ways,” Psa 145:17; 2Th 1:5.
Verse 23 adds that “they” of the escaping remnant, would comfort those of the captivity in Babylon, when the captives in Babylon beheld their “ways and doings”, in abandoning idolatry when they came, as a remaining remnant from Jerusalem, to live righteously among and with them there in Babylon. He assures the captives in Babylon that they shall then know that He had not sent the plagues of judgment upon the house of Israel in their land without a just and righteous cause, Gen 18:22; Deu 8:2; Jer 22:8-9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
JUDAH AND JERUSALEM CANNOT CLAIM EXEMPTION FROM JUDGMENTS BECAUSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS FEW THEREIN (Eze. 14:12-23)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.Eze. 14:12-13. When the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously. Their sin is more particularly defined as trespass, the literal expression being to trespass a trespass, i.e. to commit a very great trespass. The first signification of the Hebrew word is to cover, and therefore it is used to denote acting in any secret or treacherous manner, especially towards Jehovah, either by outward or inward idolatry or by withholding what is due to Him. Here the treachery specially pointed out is that of apostasy from God by idolatry.
Eze. 14:14. Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it. These men are named as well-known examples of true righteousness of life. They were just in their generation living that life of obedience which springs from faith in God. Noah is so described in Gen. 6:9; and Job, in the Book of Job. 1:1; and Daniel, in like manner, is classed with these ancient men as one who confessed a true faith by a righteous life. The fact that Daniel is named before Job does not warrant the conjecture that some other older Daniel is meant, of whom nothing is said in the history, and whose existence is merely postulated. For the enumeration is not intended to be chronological, but is arranged according to the subject-matter; the order being determined by the nature of the deliverance experienced by these men for their righteousness in the midst of great judgments. Hvernick shows we have a climax here: Noah saved his family along with himself; Daniel was able to save his friends (Dan. 2:17-18); but Job, with his righteousness, was not even able to save his children (Keil).
Eze. 14:15. If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land. Beasts in the usual sense, or in human form (Eze. 14:17.) (Hengstenberg), comp. Eze. 5:17; Lev. 26:22; 2Ki. 17:25.
Eze. 14:16. They shall deliver neither sons nor daughters. In the first instance, it is simply stated that Noah, Daniel, and Job would save their soul, i.e. their life, by their righteousness; whereas, in the three others, it is declared that as truly as the Lord liveth they would not save either sons or daughters, but they alone would be delivered. The difference is not merely a rhetorical climax or progress in the address by means of asseveration and antithesis, but indicates a distinction in the thought. The first case is only intended to teach that in the approaching judgment the righteous would save their lives, i.e. that God would not sweep away the righteous with the ungodly. The three cases which follow are intended, on the other hand, to exemplify the truth that the righteousness of the righteous will be of no avail to the idolaters and apostates; since even such patterns of righteousness as Noah, Daniel, and Job would only be able to save their own lives, and would not be able to save the lives of others also. This tallies with the omission of the asseveration in Eze. 14:14. The first declaration, that God would deliver the righteous in the coming judgments, needed no asseveration, inasmuch as this truth was not called in question; but it was required in the case of the declaration that the righteousness of the righteous would bring no deliverance to the sinful nation, since this was the hope which the ungodly cherished, and it was this hope which was to be taken from them (Keil).
Eze. 14:17-20. Two more great judgments are threatened. The four visitations of God, each introduced with an if, should actually come, as had been repeatedly predicted, unitedly upon the degenerate covenant people, upon the desecrated land of the Lord. The transition from the merely hypothetical to the actual follows in Eze. 14:21. The for at the beginning points to the ground of the discussion instituted, shows that it is no mere idle common place (Heng.)
Eze. 14:21. How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem. How much more must the general standard of the Divine judgments manifest itself before all in the servant, who knows his masters will, and yet does what is worthy of stripes! You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities, says Amos (Heng.) The sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence. The number four may possibly symbolise the completeness of the judgment, as one on all sides. Formerly famine was first; here it is the sword, because the calamity of war lay immediately before them. In consequence of it the other three judgments came one after another. War brings famine into the cities; corpses outside, which attract the beasts; and from all these follows the pestilence (Lange).
Eze. 14:22. Therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth. A remnant, i.e., persons who have escaped destruction. These shall be brought forth, i.e., led out of Jerusalem unto you. They shall join those who are already in exile in Babylon. Sons and daughters. These are called sons and daughters, with an allusion to Eze. 14:16; Eze. 14:18; Eze. 14:20; and consequently we must not take these words as referring to the younger generation in contrast to the older (Keil). Ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem. They shall be comforted in seeing the justification of the ways of God.
Eze. 14:23. Their ways and their doings. Not those ways by which they had provoked the Lord to punish the nation, but the fruits of righteousnessthe good works to the practice of which they had been recovered by the severe discipline through the course of which they had been brought. While they justified God in all the calamities which He had inflicted upon them, their being spared was a proof of His great mercy, and a pledge that, if their brethren in the captivity followed their example by renouncing idolatry, they also should be dealt with in mercy (Hend.)
HOMILETICS
THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD UPON NATIONS
I. They usually take the shape of great public calamities.
1. The sources of the national wealth are undermined. I will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it (Eze. 14:13). Bread, the chief food of man, may well be called the staff of life. It is the prop which supports mans physical nature, and when it is taken away he sinks exhausted to the ground. Famine is one of Gods sore judgments, for it seizes upon what is mans greatest treasure, his life. Man and beast fail; the means of useful labour and food are cut off. The very foundations of life are destroyed.
2. The invasion of enemies. If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land (Eze. 14:15). Man was invested with dominion over the beasts of the earth. By virtue of the power of his mind, and not merely by physical force, he retains his sovereignty over them. And Gods providence wonderfully preserves the balance of power between man and the lower animals. He sets a watch over all His creatures, so that they shall not pass His commandment, but fulfil His purpose in placing man head over all here below. But sin interferes with mans complete dominion; and it is, after all, but a broken sceptre that he holds in his hand. God, for purposes of judgment, allows beasts to overcome man. Another enemy to nations is the sword. God says, Sword, go through the land (Eze. 14:17). War is one of the scourges which God uses to punish wicked nations. All the evils mentioned in this sectiondevouring beasts, pestilence, and faminefollow in its track.
3. Pestilence. Or. if I send a pestilence into that land (Eze. 14:19). In famine and other calamities men of wealth may be able to keep the enemy for a long while at bay, or even to hold out to the end. But they have no defence against pestilence. Then does the Angel of Death walk through the land with impartial step, sparing no age or condition.
II. Though they may be traced to natural causes they are still the work of God. War, pestilence, and famine, are due to the operation of natural laws. But it is also true that God sends them; for He is behind all nature, and behind all human history, whether in justice or in the mysterious march of its events. The calamities that fall upon nations have deep moral causes, and ultimately resolve themselves into the righteous will of God in His manifest indignation against human sin.
1. Nations, as such, are under moral law. This law expresses the will of God in regard to human conduct.
2. The transgression of those laws involves penalty. History has many sad examples which show how the moral corruption of a nation may become so great as to bring about its destruction. Nations can only be judged in this life, for as such they do not exist in another world. When a land sins against God by trespassing grievously, the calamities which are visited upon it are seen to come from God by all who believe that there is a moral Governor of the world.
III. They cannot always be averted by pleading the righteousness of the few therein. Abrahams intercession for Sodom establishes that principle of Gods government by which whole nations are spared great judgments for the sake of the few righteous among them. The faithful few among many faithless are as the salt which preserves the whole community from corruption. We are exhorted and encouraged to pray for others, and even to be so bold as to ask that the hand of justice might be stayed when it is lifted against the ungodly. But there are limits to intercession. Even the prayers of Abraham could not save the devoted cities of the plain. In like manner the iniquity of Jerusalem had grown so great that the prayers and godly influence of men of such famous righteousness as Noah, Daniel, and Job, could not save it from the threatened doom. The Jews placed great reliance upon the intercession of the saints, and counted upon it as a refuge from judgment. They are now told that this is a vain hope, that Gods righteous law must take its course, and that the most holy men can but save themselves (Eze. 14:14; Eze. 14:16; Eze. 14:18; Eze. 14:20).
IV. The righteousness of God therein will appear unto His people. And ye shall be comforted (Eze. 14:22). This comfort would arise from clearly seeing the justification of Gods ways (Eze. 14:23). There was a sufficient cause for all the evil which was coming upon Jerusalem, and faithful souls should see how that the ways of the Lord were just. However severe Gods judgments may be in His dealings with mankind, it is a comfort when we know and believe that they are righteous. What a lesson for Christian nations! They are governed by the same great moral principles, but with added light their responsibilities are greater.
(Eze. 14:14.)
From this passage we may infer two things
I. That there are seasons when even the intercession of the most eminent will not avail. There are seasons in which it is unalterably determined to inflict punishment.
II. That these are so rare and so extraordinary that to declare He will not turn away for intercession is the strongest token of His fierce indignation.
(1.) If God delights to hear prayer it is most reasonable to believe He will favourably regard intercessory prayer; for then the supplicant is exercising two most important virtues at once, piety and benevolence. He is then employed in fulfilling the whole law, and makes the nearest approach to the divine nature.
(2.) Examples of its successAbraham, Moses, and Job.R. Hall.
NOAH, DANIEL, AND JOB.
Some make great inquiry why these three men should be mentioned rather than others, and they give in their answer:
1. It is thought that they are named, for that they could not divert Gods wrath by their holiness and prayers from the people of their times. Noah could not keep off the flood, nor Job the sad things which befel him and his, nor Daniel the captivity.
2. Others think they are named because they freed others in imminent danger in their times. Noah saved his family from the flood; Job prayed for his friends, and they were spared; Daniel preserved the magicians and wise men. But rather they are named, because they were men of great holiness, exercised with great trials, and so the more fervent in prayer. And what if these men, who were so acceptable to me, had so much interest in me and often prevailed with me, should pray for you, yet they should do nothing for your deliverance by their prayers. These were men in great afflictions, and affliction is the whetstone of prayer, the bellows to blow up that fire.Greenhill.
(Eze. 14:22-23.)
1. When Gods judgments are sorest, yet then He shows mercy to some.
2. The Lord will satisfy and comfort the hearts of His people against the evil and scandal that comes by any of His judgments. When Jerusalem was destroyed, the Jews rooted out and carried to Babylon, what joy was there in the nations! what reproachings of the Jews! Where is now their God? At these things the Jews hearts in Babylon were grieved, offended; therefore the Lord tells them, they shall be comforted concerning all the evil He hath brought upon Jerusalem. They shall know the greatness of their sins which moved Him to do so.
3. That the Lord is righteous and just in His judgments. I have not done without cause all that I have done in Jerusalem. It is the devils design to hurt without cause; therefore saith God, Thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause (Job. 2:3). But God would not do it; whatever He doth He hath great cause for. He is the only and infinitely wise God, and doth all things upon the height of reason. Their sins were such as impeached His honour, corrupted His worship, broke the covenant, questioned His providence, violated justice, and conformed them to the heathen. He had cause enough to do what He did, namely, to vindicate His honour, worship, covenant, providence, justice, and to show that His people, if they will sin with the world, must suffer grievous things for it.
4. Men shall know in due time the equity of Gods judgments. They are a great depth. Men cannot sound or measure them (Psa. 36:6). The causes of them are hidden from the eyes of most. Jobs friends mistook the cause of Gods dealing so sharply with him, but afterwards they understood it. They in Babylon, and others, were astonished at the sore judgments of God, but God let them know the cause of it, and so they were brought to justify God (1Ki. 9:7-9). God proclaims the cause of His severe judgments, so that men may see the equity of them, that He is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works (Psa. 145:17).Greenhill.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
B. Presence of Righteous Men 14:1223
TRANSLATION
(12) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (13) Son of man, when a land sins against Me by trespassing grievously, and I stretch out My hand against it, and break its staff of bread, and send against it a famine, and cut off from it man and beast; (14) though these three men Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, they would deliver only their own life through their righteousness (oracles of the Lord GOD). (15) If I cause a wild beast to pass through the land, and they bereave it, and it becomes so desolate that no man passes through her because of the beasts; (16) though these three men were in its midst, as I live (oracle of the Lord GOD), they would not deliver sons nor daughters; they alone would be delivered, but the land would become a desolation. (17) Or if I bring a sword against that land, and I say, Let a sword pass through the land, so that I cut off from it man and beast; (18) though these three men were in its midst, as I live (oracle of the Lord GOD), they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, for they alone would be delivered. (19) Or if I sent a plague against that land, and I poured out My wrath upon it in blood to cut off from it man and beast; (20) though Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, as I live (oracle of the Lord GOD) they would not be able to deliver son nor daughter; they would deliver only their own life by their righteousness. (21) Because thus says the Lord GOD: How much more when I send My four calamitous judgments against Jerusalem sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence to cut off from it man and beast. (22) And if a remnant is left in it who are brought forth, sons and daughters, behold they shall come forth unto you, and you shall see their way and their deeds, and you shall be comforted concerning the calamity which I have brought against Jerusalem, all that I have brought against her. (23) And they shall comfort you, when you see their way and their deeds, that you may know that I have not done all that I did against her without cause (oracle of the Lord GOD).
COMMENTS
Here Ezekiel addresses himself to a question that surely must have been on his mind as well as the mind of his auditors. Would not the presence of righteous men in Jerusalem spare that city from the threatened destruction? Abraham in his mighty intercessory prayer (Gen. 18:23 ff.) had used this as a ground to plead for the deliverance of Sodom and Gomorrah. But Israel was beyond the help of any human mediation. The presence of a righteous soul here or there cannot be a lucky religious charm, a community insurance policy which guarantees, if not immunity from judgment, at least a softened blow. So grievously had the land of Judah transgressed against God that not even the presence of super-saints like Noah, Daniel, and Job[308] would be able to deliver the land. The doctrine of personal responsibility here is carried to its logical conclusion. Judgment for unrepentant sinners is inevitable.
[308] Feinberg (PE, p. 81) suggests that the order of the names is climactic rather than chronological Noah delivered his family with himself; Daniel his friends; but Job, not even his own children.
Because Noah was a righteous man he and his family escaped the universal destruction by the Great Flood. Because of his steadfast loyalty to God, Daniel[309] survived deportation to Babylon and saved his friends from a royal edict to slay the royal magicians. Eventually he was elevated to high office in the Babylonian government. Though but a lad at that time, Daniel had already established himself as a pious man of God and a folk hero. Yet he had not been able to use his influence with Nebuchadnezzar to spare the people of Judah. Job was spared while his wayward children met with fatal accidents. In none of these cases did the righteousness of these great men of God induce God to spare the wicked.[310] And so it is that Noah, Daniel and Job would only be able to save their own lives through their righteousness (Eze. 14:14; Eze. 14:16; Eze. 14:18). Sons and daughters of the sinful inhabitants would die (Eze. 14:16; Eze. 14:18; Eze. 14:20). The combined goodness of all three men could not save Israel from divine destruction. As if the mere declaration of this fact in Eze. 14:14 were not sufficient, God three times in this passage underscores the solemnity of this declaration by repeating it in the context of an oath. As I live (Eze. 14:16; Eze. 14:18; Eze. 14:20) is a familiar oath formula in the Old Testament. God swears that under no condition can the righteousness of the most righteous men avert the destruction of a sinful nation.
[309] The notion that Ezekiel refers to a fifteenth century Phoenician hero named Daniel rather than the famous Biblical personage of the same name is common among those who do not accept the authenticity of the Book of Daniel.
[310] A similar argument is used by Jeremiah (Jer. 15:1).
Resorting to emphasis by repetition Ezekiel pounded home his point that Noah, Daniel and Job would not be able to deliver the land. In Eze. 14:13-20 he enumerates four types of judgment which God might on occasion send against His people:
1. Famine is frequently mentioned in Scripture as a means by which God punished His people. When God would break the staff of bread[311] (i.e., bring about a famine), innocent beasts who inhabited the land as well as sinful men would thereby be cut off, i.e., die (Eze. 14:13). Yet there was no deliverance for the sinful land merely because innocent animals suffered.
[311] Mans life is sustained by bread even as his weight is sustained by a staff.
2. Evil beasts[312] might be brought against the land, attacking and destroying the inhabitants, bereaving them by robbing them of their children. Out of fear, the land would be deserted and become desolate. Men of other countries would loathe to pass through the land (Eze. 14:15). Still there would be no deliverance for the sinful land.
[312] Some have interpreted the evil beasts to be Gentile invaders. But there is no reason these cannot be literal beasts.
3. The sword (i.e., military invasion) might be used against the land. Such action would involve the indiscriminate slaughter of man and beast (Eze. 14:17). From such slaughter there would be no deliverance.
4. Pestilence might be the means of punishment. Gods fury poured out upon the land would manifest itself in blood, i.e., a high death rate. Still there would be no deliverance.
Ezekiel has set forth in Eze. 14:12-20 the general principle that the presence of even the most godly men cannot save a land from divine judgment. In Eze. 14:20 the prophet makes the application to Jerusalem. If when only one of the above mentioned punishments is inflicted upon a land the righteous are unable to save the wicked, how much more true will this be in the case of Jerusalem which must suffer all four (Eze. 14:21). The number four conveys the idea of completeness and universality because it reflects the notion of the four points of the compass.
Eze. 14:22 asserts that a remnant would survive the fourfold catastrophe which was to befall Jerusalem. They would be brought forth, i.e., carried into exile. Their survival should not be interpreted as indicating their righteousness. Far from it! These escapees would serve as an object lesson. When the earlier exiles observed the character and conduct of those who later would join them, they would be comforted concerning the calamity which Jerusalem experienced. They would acquiesce in the righteousness of the judgment of God. They would realize that God had no alternative but to destroy that city. His punishments had not been arbitrary or excessive (Eze. 14:22). Indirectly the future captives would comfort[313] those who were already in Babylon (Eze. 14:23). The kind of comfort referred to here is that which comes about when a person learns new facts which throw new light on what was perceived to be a disastrous situation.
[313] The Hebrew nacham does not mean comfort in sorrow, but comfort out of sorrow.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
‘And the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting treacherously, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff of its bread and send famine on it, and cut off from it both man and beast, though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord Yahweh.” ’
Note that the application is general. It is a general principle. It applies to any land against which God might intend to bring judgment for acting treacherously, but it is quite clear that Jerusalem is in mind in the context.
The principle is that once God has finally determined judgment, even the presence of godly men will not prevent it. The godly themselves will be delivered but Yahweh’s judgment will not be prevented. Thus they need not look to the presence of men in Israel like Jeremiah and Ezekiel as evidence that they were safe. Why, even the presence of those great and good men Noah, Daniel and Job, would not forestall the judgment God intended to bring on Jerusalem. Noah was ‘a righteous man, blameless in his generation’ (Gen 6:9), Job was ‘blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil’ (Job 1:1). Neither were strictly Israelites, and both were thus a good example to use as a general principle.
Noah was a particularly good contrast, for his presence in the world had delayed the flood for many years, but in the end it came, even though it had been delayed to give them opportunity to repent. So would it come on Jerusalem. The mention of Job demonstrates that his story was at this time well known in Israel, and that he was admired and respected as a righteous and holy man. His righteousness too did not prevent great suffering.
The mention of Daniel presents us with a slight problem. The name is different from that used in the book of Daniel, (Dani’el here, Daniyye’l in Daniel), but it is a variation which occurs in other names referring to the same person (Do’eg (1Sa 21:7; 1Sa 22:9) spelled Doyeg in 1Sa 22:18; 1Sa 22:22), so that is not a great difficulty. More difficult is as to whether the contemporary of Jeremiah and Ezekiel could have achieved such fame by the time Ezekiel was speaking. But he had been taken captive from Jerusalem years earlier, and in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar had interpreted his dream and been raised to honour (Daniel 2). Word may well therefore have got back to Jerusalem about this, and at a time when people were seeking comfort and hope he may well have become a folk-hero. The mention of a contemporary who had clearly been ‘delivered’ from the coming judgment on Jerusalem would add considerable weight to Ezekiel’s argument.
An alternative Daniel is found by some in stories surrounding the Dan’el known from Ugaritic literature, who had a reputation for wisdom and righteous judgment. But it seems unlikely that Ezekiel would choose such a figure when he had many heroes from Hebrew tradition such as Abraham that he could have called on, especially as Dan’el was connected with the very idolatry that was being condemned. However the Ugaritic myths may have been based on earlier stories of a famous king Dan’el, well known in Israel, which exalted his goodness and did not connect with idolatry and with Baal. Certainly, like Noah and Job, as he was not an Israelite he would fit the pattern. It does not, however, really matter which we choose, for it does not affect the poignancy of the illustration.
‘Acting treacherously.’ The word is strong. It indicates those who have sinned to the full.
‘Break the staff of its bread and send famine on it, and cut off from it both man and beast.’ For the ‘staff of bread’ see Eze 4:16; Eze 5:16 and compare Lev 26:26; Psa 105:16; Isa 3:1. Bread was the basic food on which they leant and depended for survival. Thus to break the staff meant to remove their bread, which would be the result of famine. That both man and beast would be cut off indicates the severity of the judgment.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
God’s Irrevocable Sentence
v. 12. The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, v. 13. Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously, v. 14. Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, v. 15. If I cause noisome beasts, v. 16. though these three men were in it, v. 17. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, v. 18. though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.
v. 19. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, v. 20. though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter, v. 21. For thus saith the Lord God, How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, v. 22. Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant, an escaped portion, that shall be brought forth, both Sons and daughters, v. 23. And they shall comfort you,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
We have no difficulty in explaining sin as the cause of sorrow. The four sore judgments of God, famine, the sword, wild beasts, and pestilence, are among the rods by which guilty nations, in all ages, have been scourged. But when Noah, Daniel, and Job, are spoken of as beings saved from general destruction by their righteousness, this can only be explained upon Gospel principles. The unerring language of the Word of God is, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; and, therefore, by the deeds of the law can no flesh be justified in God’s sight. I humbly conceive, therefore, that those three men are here introduced as types of Christ. Noah by faith is said to have prepared an ark for the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Heb 11:7 . This explains the whole. These types of Christ represent the person and righteousness of Jesus, by whom alone they, and every individual heir of faith, could obtain salvation.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Limit of Influence
Eze 14:14
The solemnity of this assurance is increased by the fact that it forms quite an exception to the general tenor of the divine government Again and again we have come upon instances which have shown that God has saved the earth because of the righteous men who were in it: he would have spared the cities of the plain if Abraham could have found ten praying souls in the whole of their corrupt population; he blessed the house of Potiphar for Joseph’s sake; he allowed the intercession of Moses to shield Israel from judgment well deserved; for Paul’s sake he saved the ship in the storm; these are but instances of his regard for the prayers of the righteous and for the influence of godly character. In the text we come upon a sharp variation of the general method: no longer is Noah or Daniel or Job to count for more than one; the day of prevailing intercession is to close; character is to be individualised, and the diffusion of collateral benefit is to pass away for ever. Four times is this declaration made in the conclusion of this chapter, as if to prevent the possibility of mistake; the contrary law has been so long in operation that the people have come to trust it as. an everlasting resort in time of peril; and, therefore, that there may be no misunderstanding about his purpose, God smites the refuge four times with the hammer of his anger and says that he will overthrow it.
“Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God” ( Eze 14:13-14 ).
We speak about the continuity and unchangeableness of law, but again and again in Holy Scripture God declares that he will change this and that, and institute quite another standard of criticism, and quite another method of administration. We too often pass over all these words which point to change as mere matters of course, forgetting that they are part of a higher revelation, showing that God is not confined to method and form as to his conduct of the universe, and that even what we call his laws are subject to change. The law-maker must always be greater than any law which he has made. We should reason concerning moral laws from our own standpoint as well as from God’s, because in the operation of moral laws there are of necessity two parties the Sovereign giving the law, and the subject consenting to it or rejecting it. In reality there is no change in God, nor can there ever be any change in him, but he holds himself in relation to us as one who is guided in his administration of affairs by our spirit and attitude towards himself. The parent sometimes takes the law from the child that is, in the sense of accommodating a law to the child’s peculiarity of temperament or specialty of conduct It is distinctly laid down in the Bible that God has acted upon the principle of intercessory prayer, and has accepted such prayer as really determining his action in reference to certain well-known cases. That must be taken to be the law which God has been pleased to lay down and act upon. The historical instances of its application are too numerous to admit of any dispute as to the reality and stability of this law. Yet here we come into contact with what may be described as an almost violent change. Noah is no longer to pray for more than himself; when Daniel speaks it must be in his own name and in reference to his own circumstances; and when Job, the most experienced of all patriarchs, lifts up his voice toward heaven to make his plea, he must omit from it all collateral considerations, and simply state in his own name his own condition and his own necessity.
Terrible as it may seem on first reading, yet there is quite a deep well of comfort in all this wilderness of desolation. It will be observed that though the darkness brought down upon the earth by sin is very great, yet through all the gloom the figures of Noah, Daniel, and Job are seen in all their vividness and pathetic suggestiveness, showing that the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and that their memory is precious to him.
From the beginning, God said he would not destroy the righteous with the wicked. Nor is God governed by what we call the principle or law of majorities. He does not sink the righteous with the wicked when he drowns the world, or when he pours his tempests of fire and brimstone upon doomed cities. The comfort of the text is that the Lord’s judgment is not blind and undiscriminating, like the wrath of man. The angels that bear his sword and do his will spare the houses whose posts are marked with blood, and leave untouched the men who have been true to the Lord’s altar. Herein is great deliverance from fear, that the good man’s house is founded on a rock, and that not one hair of his head shall perish. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.” “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.” Here is the discrimination of divine providence. The arrow falls just beside the good man, but does not strike him. It may strike down even a companion who walked by his side, yet he himself shall be spared because of his fidelity to the altar. Any confusion here would invalidate the whole system of the universe, as it has been understood from a Christian standpoint.
When God ceases to discern between the righteous and the wicked his throne is overturned, and he himself has become but a mere figure in religious romance. Nor is it selfish comfort that is derived from this view of the text. It is not the mere self that is saved, it is the all-precious righteousness that is honoured. Where this righteousness is most fully developed there will be least regard of merely individual interests; our petty personality will be swallowed up in our holy trust of God, and our perfect assurance that he has no pleasure in the death of the sinner. The Christian man never reasons, I am safe, and therefore I care not what becomes of other people. If he could reason so, he would disprove his own Christianity. When he is most assured of the divine complacency and protection, he is at the same time most assured that the value which God sets upon righteousness is infinite and unchangeable. There is comfort, too, in the thought that the righteous are held in everlasting remembrance, as we have just said. Noah, Daniel, and Job had long ceased to mingle with men, yet their names are household words, and are pointed to as men would point to mountains majestic and lofty beyond all other hills. Whenever we come upon the name of Noah we find it associated with a description of character which shows that the complacency of Heaven was moral and not arbitrary: “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord… Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” Daniel also is referred to as one whose conduct had attracted the special recognition and benediction of Heaven “Daniel, a man greatly beloved.” Nor does Job figure on the page of Scripture as a mere name, but rather as a character singular in its loftiness and purity “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”
It is clear, however, that the text is meant to be a warning rather than a comfort, and it is in this spirit that we must approach its interpretation. It is a warning to individual men. They cannot tell how soon they will be called upon to cease their intercessory ministry. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Let him earnestly continue in the exercise of this great gift of prayer, lest God should suddenly command him to pray no more for those who have most deeply engaged his religious solicitude. Specially, however, is this a warning to households:
“Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate” ( Eze 14:16 ).
How terrible is this tragedy, that a man should no longer be the priest of his own family! Realise the scene as vividly as you can: for many years the father, as the head of the house, has been as a priest in the estimation of God; he has erected his family altar; there he has offered the sacrifice of prayer and praise; there he has named his children one by one, and pleaded for them with all the pathos of passionate love. Events, however, have occurred which seem only to have developed the obduracy of the hearts of the children. They are no longer in sympathy with the spirit of the altar, nor have they anything to say to the Invisible Listener. To iniquity they have added iniquity, as water to water, until the river of their wickedness has flowed broadly and deeply through the very midst of their life. Now the time has come when God says he will hear no more parental prayer on their behalf. The son shall be separated from the father, and the daughter from the mother, and shall realise in an awful individualism of position how true it is that every soul must give an account of itself to God. The Lord will not spare the children when they have gone astray, having broken every holy vow and shattered every commandment issued from heaven. “I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.” This is a threatening which may operate in either of two ways: either because the children have forfeited divine confidence, or because the parents have abandoned the right way, and can only be brought home again by processes of affliction and desolation.
This is a warning also to nations. The nation is saved because of the living Church that is within it. Sneering at such a doctrine has no effect upon its reality and beneficence. If this doctrine be not true, then the whole Bible proceeds upon false lines, and would seem to be almost constructed for the purpose 01 deceiving mankind. Prophets do pray for nations, and God recognises the intercession that is offered on behalf of whole peoples and. kindreds and tongues. Moses and Samuel prayed for the people as a whole, yet God would reject even their entreaty under given circumstances “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.” The prophet was forbidden to pray for the people in their entirety, the word of the Lord coming to him, saying, “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.” Moses was often excited because his prayers for the people did not seem to prevail, and because his arguments were practically rejected. We have seen how upon one notable occasion Moses pleaded with Heaven almost in a spirit of agony: “And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.” Here we have an instance in which prayer prevailed, and therefore we have an instance which establishes the law that intercessory prayer was appointed of God: “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” That the Lord did answer the intercessory appeals of the prophets of ancient times is clear from another instance given in the Book of Numbers ( Num 14:17-20 ): “And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word.” Sometimes the Lord would seem to be almost impatient with his intercessory prophets. We call to mind the instance in which he said, “Let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.” Prophets must not cease to pray for the land in which they live. Amid political tumult and uproar, the voice of their prayer may seem to be but a feeble sound, yet they are called upon by the very genius of their faith to keep the way clear between heaven and earth for large and profitable intercourse. Into the mystery of intercession we cannot enter, but we find that it is at the very heart of things, a rule and a law, a judgment and a blessing, an opportunity large in its possibilities, but always hastening to a solemn conclusion.
The great principle of mediation is, of course, most vividly and gloriously represented by the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ; but even in his case the priesthood is to cease, the long and loving prayer for others is to come to a perpetual close: “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet…. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” We live in a great intercessory period: the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered: we need not fear because our prayer halts and stumbles as to the mere eloquence of its expression; the eloquence of prayer is in its sincerity; to the man who is of a broken and a contrite heart will God look, and on him will he set signs of approval. A wondrous gift is it to have the gift of intercession, the power of putting into heavenly words the wants of other men, and the power of pleading with God on behalf of those who never plead for themselves. Verily, there is a gift in prayer as well as in preaching and in song. Some men, by the largeness of their hearts, the tenderness of their love, the sagacity of their judgment, their marvellous understanding of human nature and human events, are peculiarly qualified to represent at the throne of the heavenly grace the case of families and nations and of the world at large. Some suppliants can but pray for themselves; others can only pray concerning great events and great subjects; others, more Christ-like, seem to carry the world in their hearts and to plead for continents and empires in great intercessions.
Let us get a clear view of the system of spiritual government under which we live. There is something of law in our life beyond what we see in God’s legislation in the ordinary sense of the term. The system under which we live is this, namely, that there is one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus. We are to conclude all our prayers, and indeed begin them and continue them, with the sentiment, “For Christ’s sake.” We cannot understand the mystery of this ground, and yet we feel how solid it is, and how impossible it would be for us to pray without it. It is in Christ that we find God. It is through Christ that we find access to the throne of the heavenly grace. We do not plead Christ as if we were pleading with an arbitrary Deity, who would not do anything for us ourselves, but would only do it through the mediation of his Son, or because of his partiality for one whom he calls his Only-Begotten. We might think of the clause, “For Christ’s sake,” until we ourselves were driven away into something like spiritual contempt. But let us reason from the other point, and then we shall see that even we ourselves fill the imagination and thought and love of God, and draw towards us all the resources of heaven in view of our salvation. Though our prayers are to be heard for Christ’s sake, yet Christ himself was given for our sake! Herein is love, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us! God sent his Son to seek and to save that which was lost.
It is a great thing, then, as Christ came forth from eternity for our sakes, that we should approach God, and ask to be heard for Christ’s sake. The two points in the line agree one with the other, and constitute a noble harmony. There are aspects in which man may be so viewed as to bring down upon himself an intolerable sense of humiliation, he is a worm, and no man; he is weak, foolish, helpless; his breath is in his nostrils, and his days are but a handful; he breaks up little by little, until at last dissolved in death, all this is exceedingly depressing, and full of the horror of self-humiliation: on the other hand, how the light shines, how the whole horizon beams with celestial glory, when we know that man was made in the image and likeness of God, and that only the Maker of man could be his Redeemer! So then, though all our prayers are offered in the name of Christ and answers are expected for Christ’s sake, yet Christ himself came forth from the Father for our sakes, took upon him the seed of Abraham, and he stands before God, the representative Humanity, the Second Adam, the Lord from heaven, a priesthood, however, which is destined, as we have seen, to close for ever. When Christ has left the mediatorial throne there can be no availing prayer; then the wicked will receive unmixed and untempered judgment; for the Mediator is gone. The time is coming when all advantages will be exhausted, and every man, even Noah, Daniel, and Job, will have to stand simply on his merits, and the wicked will be overturned by the righteous judgment of the Almighty. How terribly his anger burns! Some times it would seem to be ready to break through all boundary, and environment, and restriction, and utterly to consume the universe. On this appalling theme we may not dwell; enough to know that “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” But we may not end at this point. Blessed be God, we need not separate in the darkness of midnight, not knowing what is going to befall us, whether our next step will plunge us into an infinite abyss. We advance and stand in the morning light, and preach the blessed gospel that even now man may repent and live, may turn to God and sun himself in the brightness of the eternal love. The Cross of Christ is still available. What we have known as the Atonement wrought by the Son of God may now be realised by saving faith and childlike love. He who thus comes to God will need no Noah to pray for him, or Daniel, or Job: he will come boldly unto the throne of grace, and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need, he will not stand afar off, but will draw quite near, and know what it is to have sweet and ample access to the very heart of God.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Eze 14:12 The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,
Ver. 12. The word of the Lord came again to me. ] The utter destruction of this perverse people is once again denounced and declared to be inevitable.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 14:12-20
12Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, 13Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, 14even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves, declares the Lord GOD. 15If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts, 16though these three men were in its midst, as I live, declares the Lord God, they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the country would be desolate. 17Or if I should bring a sword on that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and beast from it,’ 18even though these three men were in its midst, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be delivered. 19Or if I should send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it to cut off man and beast from it, 20even though Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.
Eze 14:13 The Jewish Study Bible marginal note (p. 1066) asserts that the ifs of Eze 14:13; Eze 14:15; Eze 14:17; Eze 14:19 are textual markers for a legal case (i.e., casuistic law).
committing unfaithfulness This VERB (BDB 591, KB 612, Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT) comes from the priestly realm and denotes acts of idolatrous treachery (i.e., idolatry). It is used of marital infidelity in Num 5:12; Num 5:27. It is used several times in Ezekiel for unfaithfulness towards YHWH (cf. Eze 15:8; Eze 17:20; Eze 18:24; Eze 20:27; Eze 39:23; Eze 39:26).
This phrase is emphatic by the repetition of the Hebrew root (BDB 591) in the INFINITIVE and the NOUN.
Notice YHWH’s reactions.
1. I stretch out My hand against it (i.e., His nation, His capital), which is an idiom of purposeful action
2. I destroy (lit. break the staff, cf. Eze 4:16; Eze 5:16) its supply of bread, which denotes famine
3. I send famine against it
4. I cut off (i.e., destroy completely) from it both man and beast (cf. Eze 14:7; Eze 14:19; Eze 14:21)
5. cause wild beasts to pass through the land (Eze 14:15, cf. Lev 26:22)
6. bring a sword on that country
7. send a plague against that country (Eze 14:19)
All of them are summarized in four severe judgments (Eze 14:21; Eze 5:12; Deu 32:23-24)
1. sword (BDB 352)
2. famine (BDB 944)
3. wild beasts (BDB 312, cf. Lev 26:22)
4. plague (BDB 184)
Eze 14:14 even though these three men It is clear from the OT who Noah (cf. Genesis 6-9) and Job (cf. Job) are. It is not so clear who Daniel (BDB 193) is.
1. the father-in-law of Enoch, Jubilees 4:20, who surprisingly is not mentioned as our ancient righteous person.
2. a son of David, 1Ch 3:1
3. a priest of the line of Ithamar, Ezr 8:2; Neh 10:7
4. a well known Canaanite sage, Eze 14:14; Eze 14:20; Eze 28:3
5. a prophet, hero, administrator under Nebuchadnezzar from the biblical book of Daniel
6. an unknown famous righteous person
Daniel is a contemporary with Ezekiel and did not have time for his faith and life to be well known (i.e., become a proverb of wisdom and faithfulness). Daniel might really be Daniel (or Dan-El, Ezekiel’s spelling is different from Dan 6:16 and is spelled like the hero of the Ugaritic text), a Canaanite sage (from Ras Shamra Ugaritic texts) known for his upright thoughtful life. The problem is that he is involved with the Canaanite pantheon! Therefore, even with all the questions the biblical Daniel seems the best option (cf. Eze 28:3).
by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves This phrase reflects OT theology of a performance-based righteousness (cf. Eze 3:21, or better an OT sense of blamelessness, like Noah, Gen 6:9 or Job, Job 1:1). This section is a theological precursor to chapter 18. The people thought that a few faithful worshipers of YHWH would cause YHWH to withhold His wrath (like Gen 18:22-33, also note Jer 15:1-4), but this proved not to be a deterrent! See Special Topic: Righteousness at Eze 3:20.
The term deliver (BDB 664, KB 717, Piel IMPERFECT) in the Piel, usually means to strip off in the sense of plunder (cf. Exo 3:22; Exo 12:36; 2Ch 20:25). Only here is it translated deliver or save, although the Niphal (cf. Eze 14:16; Eze 14:18) and Hiphil (cf. Eze 3:19; Eze 3:21; Eze 14:20; Eze 33:19; Eze 34:10) stems use it in this sense.
A righteous person (in the OT Mosaic sense, cf. Eze 3:20-21; Eze 14:12-20; Eze 18:5-32; Eze 33:12-20) can only deliver himself/herself. OT righteousness is not transferable to others. It is an individual performance-based concept. I am so glad that my hope is in the new covenant, which is grace-based!!!
Eze 14:15
NASBdepopulate
NKJVempty
NRSVravage
TEVkill
NJBrob it of its children
The NJB captures the essence of the VERB (BDB 1013, KB 1491, Piel PERFECT). This is part of the Deuteronomic curse. If the Israelites violate YHWH’s covenant, their children will die (no posterity, no family joy)
1. by sword, Deu 32:25; 1Sa 15:33; Lam 1:20
2. by wild beasts, Lev 26:22; Eze 5:17; Eze 14:15
Eze 14:17 Let the sword pass through This VERB (BDB 710, KB 778) is a Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense. The sword (i.e., invasion and exile) became the will and command of YHWH against His own covenant people!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Eze 14:12-14
Eze 14:12-14
“And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, when a land sinneth against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand upon it, and break the staff of the bread thereof, and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast; though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord Jehovah.”
EVEN A RIGHTEOUS REMNANT
COULD NOT SAVE JERUSALEM
“When a land sinneth … by committing a trespass …” (Eze 14:13). “`Trespass’ is far too mild a word for this strong Hebrew term. The root concerns high treason and the crime of `acting treacherously.’ It was no ordinary trespass, or sin, that resulted in the kind of destruction God was bringing upon Jerusalem.
“These three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job …” (Eze 14:14). Even such citizens as these, though living in Jerusalem and interceding for it, could not have averted the richly deserved punishment of Jerusalem.
WHAT DANIEL WAS THIS?
Every Bible student is made aware of the radical critic’s efforts to make this mention of Daniel a reference to some alleged Daniel mentioned in the Ras Shamra tablets and who lived about 1,400 B.C.
Arguments by which critics attempt to support this view are: (1) There are two spellings of Daniel, the one in Daniel’s prophecy, and the one here in Ezekiel, namely, `Daniel’ and `Dan’el.'” The Ezekiel spelling matches that in the Ras Shamra tablets. (2) Only the ancient Dan’el is properly placed if this list of eminent persons is chronological. If the contemporary Daniel had been meant, he would have been listed last. (3) It is very improbable that Ezekiel would have listed a contemporary.
None of these arguments has any weight. (1) Variations in the spelling of names are common in scriptures; besides that both variations of the name Daniel mean exactly the same thing, “God is my judge. (2) The notion that the list of these three ancient worthies was intended to be chronological is false. Both Keil and Leal declare emphatically that the arrangement of the names is “according to subject matter, and not according to chronology.”
“The true source of the order here derives from the fact that Noah was able to save eight persons, Daniel three persons, and Job, not even his sons and daughters. As Keil noted, this inability of Job to save even his sons and daughters tallies with the repeated mention of the phrase, “save neither sons nor daughters” in the following verses.
(3) The alleged improbability of Ezekiel’s mention of a contemporary is nothing at all except the biased opinion of a scholar who had already made up his mind. Canon Cook, one of the greatest scholars of a century, stated that, “The mention of Daniel here shows that by this time Daniel was a very remarkable man; and the introduction of the contemporary Daniel gives force and life to his illustration.
The positive reasons that support the identification of this Daniel mentioned by Ezekiel with the author of the prophecy of Daniel are: (1) no other Daniel was known either by Ezekiel or the people who heard his prophecies. The foolish allegation that they knew all about the Ras Shamra tablets and some ancient worthy who allegedly lived in 1,400 B.C. is so unreasonable as to appear preposterous. (2) On the other hand, every Jew on earth knew all about the Daniel who was the esteemed favorite of the king of Babylon, who had survived the Lion’s Den, and who had already procured countless blessings for the captive Israelites, and who was, in effect, a royal deputy of the most powerful Nebuchadnezzar. If Ezekiel had meant any other Daniel, he most certainly would have said so. (3) There’s not a word about that “other Daniel” in the Old Testament, and if he had been all that famous, it is totally inexplicable how his name got left out of the Bible! (4) a number of top rank scholars have pointed out how worthless is the alleged support for the other Daniel.
There is no shadow of evidence for the view of some commentators that an older Daniel is referred to. Had there been such a person eminent enough to be classed with Noah and Job, there would have been some mention of him in the Old Testament.
Also, another current scholar of very great ability gave as his conviction the following.
This reference in Ezekiel is not a reference to an older Daniel, of whom nothing is stated in the Old Testament. Daniel’s fame for wisdom and piety was already widespread in Ezekiel’s day.
Of course, such arguments are unanswerable. How ridiculous it would have been, in the light of the fame which Daniel enjoyed, as the deputy governor of the whole world, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a friend and helper of the Jewish nation, and no doubt as popular as any Hebrew who ever lived -how ridiculous it would have been for Ezekiel to have been referring to any other Daniel except this one! If he had been doing such a thing, would he not have explained it? Certainly.
Of course, it is remembered that in Jer 15:1-4, that prophet stated that not even the intercession of such righteous persons as Moses or Samuel would be able to avert the deserved judgments against Jerusalem. This is a very similar prophecy here.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Reciprocal: Jer 24:10 – General Jer 29:17 – Behold
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 14:12-13, This passage again gives an explanation of the Lords statement to the prophet that he would answer the people by himself. He determined to punish the land by a shortage of the needs of life, this judgment to be considered to be against the country as a whole.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 14:12-23. The Righteous cannot Save the City, but only Themselves.In spite of all Ezekiels visions and warnings, the people still cherish the illusion that Jerusalem will be sparedif for no other reason, at least for the sake of the righteous to be found in it, on the principle of solidarity. Why might it not, like Sodom (Gen 18:32), be spared for tens sake? In this very interesting and rhetorical passage, where Ezekiel develops the broad doctrine of individual responsibility, at which he has just hinted (Eze 14:10) and which he had touched upon before (Eze 3:16-21), he strikes away this illusion. When the judgment comes, he tells thembe it in the form of famine, wild beasts, or pestilencethe most godly men, for all their piety, will be able to deliver no one but themselves: not their families, not even a single member of them (Eze 14:20), far less their city or their land. As types of piety he chooses the names of men whose stories must have been familiar to his contemporaries (Noah, Daniel, Job) though the books named after the two latter had not yet been written (Eze 14:12-21). This dogmatic theory of strict individual retribution would seem to be difficult to square with the survival of a guilty remnant, such, e.g. as those who were deported later to Babylon after the fall of the city in 586 B.C. Ezekiel meets this undoubted difficulty by the suggestion that this remnant, by their corrupt lives, will show how thoroughly just the doom of the others was; and the exiles will have the grim comfort of witnessing this confirmation of the Divine justice.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
5. The need of personal righteousness for deliverance 14:12-23
This prophecy continues the emphasis on judgment from the previous one and stresses the irrevocability of Jerusalem’s destruction (cf. Jer 7:16; Jer 15:1-4).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Lord spoke to Ezekiel again. He revealed that Jerusalem’s great sins had made deliverance from divine punishment impossible. Evidently some of the exiled Jews were remembering God’s promise to Abraham that He would deliver Sodom if there were enough righteous people in it (Gen 18:22-33). Surely, they thought, there were enough righteous people in Jerusalem that God would not destroy it.
"This attitude is nothing less than using the saints as an insurance policy to cover the sinners. It has been a human failing in every generation. A community is a trifle embarrassed to have a saint among its number, but it derives a sense of security from his presence, rather like the possession of a religious lucky charm. A family with no pretensions to spirituality is often glad to have a minister of religion in one of its branches, however far removed." [Note: Taylor, p. 128.]
When sin had gone so far that Yahweh stretched out His hand in severe judgment by famine, even the righteousness of a Noah, a Daniel, and a Job could not save the nation. Noah was the only righteous man of his day, but his righteousness did not avert God’s judgment on the rest of humanity. Daniel was righteous, but his presence in Jerusalem had not precluded the deportation of many Judahites. Job’s righteousness could not even prevent judgment that touched his family members and possessions. All three men were righteous men who lived amidst unrighteousness-Noah, a pre-Israelite, Daniel, an Israelite now living in Gentile Babylon, and Job, a non-Israelite. Some scholars believed the Daniel in view was not the Daniel of the Book of Daniel, Ezekiel’s contemporary, but a character in a Canaanite epic. [Note: E.g., ibid., p. 129; Stuart, p. 130; and Allen, p. 218.] Most conservative commentators have rejected this view. [Note: For a rebuttal of it, see Cooper, pp. 163-64.] If these three men lived in Jerusalem, the Lord would deliver them for their own righteousness, but He would deliver no others for their sake. God had, in fact, delivered Daniel from the coming destruction of Jerusalem by removing him safely to Babylon. God would have spared Sodom if only 10 righteous people lived there (Gen 18:33), but He would not spare Jerusalem if three of the most righteous people in history lived there. Jerusalem’s guilt was greater than Sodom’s.
"Noah, Job, and Daniel-each one of them faces a distinct challenge that demands a profound level of faith. The issues that confronted them: faith in the word of God amid prevailing scientific skepticism, faith in God in spite of acute suffering; faith in God displayed in a situation of sophisticated pluralism, choosing to accept death rather than dishonor God." [Note: Jo Ann Davidson, "’Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job’ (Eze 14:14; Eze 14:20)-Why These Three?" Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 12:2 (Autumn 2001):143-44.]
"All of them were tested and proved faithful, Noah by the Flood, Daniel in the lions’ den, and Job by painful trials from Satan." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 188.]
The Lord said that this principle of judgment applied to "a country" (Eze 14:13), any country that acted treacherously against the Lord.
"It probably is sufficient simply to note that the hypothetical situation has both a general character (note that Noah, Daniel, and Job are all associated with non-Israelite contexts) and a specific application to Israel. The point of the passage is that Israel was under a divine judgment that was irreversible in its very nature." [Note: Cooper, p. 162.]